A teenager who dressed up as a doctor and roamed the halls of a Florida hospital will not be charged, according to a spokesman with St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach.
According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, police were called to St. Mary’s after a patient alerted staff at the medical center's OB/GYN office that a juvenile dressed in a lab coat was inside an exam room. The patient reportedly said the lab coat had St. Mary's logo and "anesthesiology" stitched on the front.
The teenager was neither able to access patient files nor was he ever in the room with patients who did not know the boy, according to a hospital spokesman who said the situation has been blown out of proportion. The hospital maintains that its internal investigation has shown that no patient files were compromised and administrators at St. Mary’s maintain the hospital is a very safe environment.
The spokesman said the boy was in a private doctor's office that is on St. Mary's grounds, and he never entered the main hospital.
According to the spokesman, the only time the boy was in an exam room was with his relative and a doctor. He calls the situation a "sad" case of “playing dress-up,” not “playing doctor.” The spokesman said the boy was walking the hallways of the OB/GYN's office in a lab coat, but was not attempting to treat any patients. He said if the boy had tried to treat patients, the hospital would have sought charges.
As soon as security was notified that the boy was not affiliated with the hospital, he was apprehended. The teen reportedly told police that he has been a doctor for years, while the teen’s mother told authorities the boy has been under the care of a doctor but had not been taking his medication.
Hospital officials are unsure exactly how long the boy had roamed the hallways and the hospital is still reviewing security tapes. His charade could have been going on for about a month, according to reports.
Fox News' Lauren Blanchard and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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